Turning Point: Jake Voracek calls his shot on Claude Giroux’s game-tying goal

Claude Giroux had himself a game on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. He assisted on Joel Farabee’s game-tying power-play goal late in the second period and scored a game-tying power-play goal of his own in the third. It was the second-straight multi-point game against the Rangers for Giroux, who also had a great game in his return from the COVID list on February 24th.

GIF Rewind: Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek carry Flyers to OT win at MSG

Jake Voracek also had a pretty tremendous game. Voracek capped off his night with the overtime winner on a 111-second shift. It was a 5-4 final at Madison Square Garden.

Flyers Film: Jake Voracek scores OT winner at end of 111-second shift

Giroux and Voracek are the veteran leaders on this team and they showed up in a big way on Monday night. They also connected on Giroux’s game-tying power-play goal that was the turning point in the game.

The power play that Giroux scored on was on a penalty against the captain himself. He and Voracek worked in the corner to win a battle, and Julien Gauthier took his second high-sticking penalty of the night.

The penalty wasn’t called during live play, however, despite Gauthier and the Rangers slowing down and throwing his hands up as he skated up ice.

Giroux was bleeding and the double-minor was confirmed after review.

It was fairly blatant.

This angle gives an even better look at it.

Giroux’s hard work gave the Flyers a four-minute power play with less than five minutes gone in the third period. The Rangers had already taken advantage of a defensive breakdown, so the Flyers needed to score to get back into the game.

The captain didn’t start the power play, that was given to Sean Couturier’s unit. Giroux came onto the ice after the referees missed a delay-of-game penalty that would’ve made it a 5-on-3 power play.

Claude Giroux slams it home

Giroux won the faceoff and nine seconds later the puck was in the back of the net. He set up down low in the near corner and took a pass from Voracek along the wall. Giroux gave the puck right back to Voracek while racing behind the net to get to the backdoor. Voracek sent a perfect pass onto the tape of Giroux’s stick and it was a tie hockey game.

It was a great pass by Voracek.

Giroux and Voracek worked the puck to perfection, just like they drew it up. Literally.

“G’s goal was probably one of the crazier things I’ve seen,” Joel Farabee said. “Jake literally said that whole play, he’s like ‘we’re gonna win it, it’s gonna go down to me, G, pretend like you’re going up the wall and then go backdoor.’ I was watching from the point and I actually couldn’t even believe it.”

It’s pretty incredible that Voracek was able to call his shot –– er, pass –– and deliver on it immediately.

What made this goal even better was the power-play goal by Farabee before it.

Farabee finds twine

Giroux had the puck in a similar position behind the net, but controlled it to the other side and sauced a pass in front to Farabee for a one-time goal.

Claude Giroux had the puck behind the net on back-to-back power plays and used two different plays to get the Flyers on the board.

“First play, was G’s call, we did it a few times and it worked. Second play was my call, we hadn’t done it yet, so I’m glad it worked,” Voracek said after the game.

The Flyers power play is starting to click and it’s a great thing to see. They now have power-play goals in four straight games and it was the first time since February 24th –– also against the Rangers –– that they scored two power-play goals in one game.

They’ll look for the two-game sweep against the Rangers on Wednesday night.